HISTORY

In 1991 Dot System develops a flat-screen console for industrial application and, starting from these products, it soon developed the first graphic terminal intended for the driving cab of rail vehicle.

In the years 1991-1993 Dot System develops a series of systems for image acquisition, digitalization, and compression for PC’s, which were subsequently used within image analysis applications in industrial automation and in the fields of video-recording and video surveillance.

In 1994 Dot System supplies gained a significant role in the supply of graphic terminals for the driving cab, equipping the first series of high-speed trains “ETR500”. This supply marks Dot System’s entrance into the railway sector.

Between 1995 and 1996 Dot System increased its activity in the railway sector by producing a family of travel information panels (“TIP”) based on high-brightness ‘LED’ technology. Both internal and external panels were produced and they were used initially for ‘night’ rail coach and, subsequently, for ‘pilot’ coach.

In 1997 a new generation of train Driving cab graphic intelligent monitors was developed (“DSG97”) fully complaints to the specifications of Italian national Railway company FS. This product, with various updates and evolutions acquired during the time, constitutes a reference for over a decade within Dot System’s production and offer.

In 1999 Dot System finalizes the development of its “TCN” (“Train Communication Network”) software ‘stack’ for applications on the “MVB Bus” (‘Multifunctional Vehicle Bus’), totally compliant to the standard IEC61375-1 which was being enforced exactly in that period.
This was the very first implementation of the ‘TCN stack’ by an independent company outside the ‘TCN working group’. This development found a first application in the products of the family ‘DSG97’.

Between 1998 and 2003 Dot System developed for several Clients, custom communication boards for the “MVB Bus”.

In 2000 Dot System finalized the development of its first ‘Pc Panel’ based on a PC architecture and equipped with an ‘LCD-TFT’ Display and ‘Touch screen’ technology.

In 2002 Dot System researched, developed and patented a very high brightness and high reliability backlight system for 10.4 inches ‘LCD-TFT’ Displays. It called this backlight system ”HLB’ (“Hybrid LCD Backlight”). This was the first backlight system ever made in Italy and, probably, in the world, for the backlight of middle-sized ‘LCD-TFT’ displays, making use of white, high brightness ‘LEDs’ having chromatic coordinates nearly identical to those of traditional ‘Cold Cathode Fluorescent ‘ Lamps (‘CCFL’), coupled to traditional ‘CCF’ Lamps.
This new backlight system, whose main aim was to outperform ‘CCF’ Lamps in brightness, reliability and thermal operating range offers, from its first implementation, better optical performances than the ones recordable in existing products. The use of ‘CCF’ lamps (totally controlled by the software according to a series of environmental parameters), in addition to the ‘LEDs’, allows this system to reach ‘extreme’ levels of brightness.

In the two-year period 2004-2005, Dot System developed a new ‘Pc Panel’ characterized by ‘state of the art’ performances and features (“DSP2000Ex”). This product is supplied with the major Microsoft® Operating Systems for embedded applications (Windows XPe® and Windows CE.NET®) and it is equipped with all range of peripherals usually installed in PC’s, as wells as with a GPS receiver and an MVB Class 4 communication board.

Among the many other products developed by Dot System in the two-years period 2004-2005, a particular mention deserve the following:

1. A new generation of “Travel Information Panel” for the outdoor of rail vehicles, characterized by an extreme density of the graphic matrix, very high brightness and a specially designed optical system intended to improve the contrast of the ‘LED’ matrix, to increase the size of the ‘LED dot’ and to increase also the viewing angle. The result is an optical system offering a ‘pleasant’ look to the panel and, more importantly, a high visibility in all light conditions with a wide viewing angle.
2. A digital and analog input/output module complying to the tightest specifications for the interface with ‘train wires’, equipped with a “MVB” interface.
3. A rail coach doors control and management system for urban and suburban trains.

Between the 2005 and 2006 Dot System developed an ergonomic touch switch for the surveillance system of the driving personnel, as well as a signal conditioning module for the “SCMT” system of the Italian Railway company.

In the 2008 Dot System developed a flexible and modular architecture for ‘RIOM’ and ‘TCMS’ devices. This architecture, called ‘FlexRail’ was improved in the 2010 by the addition of advanced Input/Output modules with self diagnosis and calibration, more powerful computation processor and new, state of art interface like ‘USB’ and ‘Ethernet’.

In the 2009 there was the first implementation for Dot System of a train’s Rear view system based on analog video technology. The system was featured by redundant video Cameras, redundant system management and redundant display. A key point of the system was the capability to displays the video images on the same Monitors used for the train Driving cab in a pleasant, ‘windows like’ and configurable representation mode.

In the 2010 Dot System presented the new generation of high temperature range, high reliability intelligent graphic monitors for the train Driving cab. This new family, named ‘DSX51xx’, was designed to perfectly replace the old ‘best sold’ “DSG97” family and, at the same time, to offer a significant performances improvement and new communication interfaces.

In the 2011 a new family of rail compliant ‘PC Panel’ was developed to replace the old, obsolete “DSP2000Ex” family.

In the 2011 Dot System developed its own technology for low and medium power, Power supply with a ‘universal rail’ input voltage (from 14 to 160 Volt).

The first two developed Power supply are targeted for 8 and 20 Watt and are fully compliant to the most recent rail requirements and standards.

In the 2011 and 2012 Dot System developed a new product for a dual DC motors doors control (door and dais) and a ‘supercapacitors’ based back-up units for the doors safety closure.

The 2013 and 2014 were spent mainly in the research and development of the HDL^TM technology and the TrainPAD and Passenger Information products. That has included Video Cameras and the Rear View System.

The 2015 was the time for a MVB Logger, a device dedicated to the acquisition, storage and transmission of diagnostic data on a rail vehicle. MVB Logger is a fully configurable device, perfect for predictive and proactive maintenance.

Multimedia is the complete PIS system in all its management and recording device parts; Multimedia is the Entertainment system installed on board, in the ‘back seat’ and ‘arm rest’ position.